Day 2 Roma!
(I have to pre empt this post and let you know that due to technology issues I am not going to post any photos, it is hard enough to get these posts to work. So if, and when we get it sorted I will post photos.)
Is it really only day 2? I feel like we have been on the go for soooooo much longer. I think if you add up the number of hours since we got up, we would have to be getting close to 3 days on the road now, and the amount of sleep that we have had can probably be counted on the one hand! The old body clock is way out of kilter, but there are adventures to be had! So we are just getting on with it and ignoring the fact that we have have had no sleep.
We arrive into Rome airport. Nowhere near as flash as Dubai, but then who could compete with that? Attempt number one is made at getting our technology issues solved. Barb was able to get a sim for her phone, but I was told that Italy has no Apples, so I can't get my iPhone to work. Italy has no Apples! I find that a little hard to believe! Let's just get to the hotel, and then try to figure it out. We head to the train station. Just as we are about to descend to the station a gentleman in uniform informs us that it is Sunday madam, "trains they runna every hour, and you have just missed it, you will have to wait another hour. If you like, the bus will take you there and it will only cost you 1 euro more. Ita leaves ina five minutes. You a wait out there, ita come soon". Ok sounds all right, too tired to really care. We wait the 5 minutes, but still no bus in sight. More of us are assembling waiting for this bus. He keeps coming back, telling us "5 minutes, ita be here". What is actually happening is that he is waiting until he has the predetermined number of people (6) and then he opens up the mini bus door and drives it himself! Crafty bugger, fell right into that one! Oh well, just go with the flow!
We're on the road, traveling down the freeway, who cares, we are heading to the hotel. Now he pulls into a gas station, the mini bus apparently needs petrol! As we sit in the petrol station, I sit in the back, and feel like I am back at home in the voyager with the kids, and Rodger is out at the bowser. I want to open up the window and ask him to get me a drink, or a chocolate paddle pop! Back on the road, as we head into Rome, he points out the landmarks and gives us a little bit of history with the tour. Ok, so its worth the extra euro!
Finally he drops us off at Termini, the central train station in Rome. We ask him for directions to our hotel, and we head off on foot, bags in tow, in search of our Hotel. Not far really, but when you are tired, it all feels like a long way. As I have "street viewed" the hotel I know what the facade looks like. Excitement builds, "there it is!". Yay! We have made it! Let's check in! Looks nice.
Let's get up to the room. Our room number is 111, so we ask "is it on the first floor?" the response we get is "no" and what she says sounds like "7" we scratch our head, but figure, what the? And press the lift button for number 7. The door opens, and we are on the roof!
What, are we camping out? Ok, perhaps she said, 2nd. Head to the second floor. Doesn't seem logical, but we are in Italy, who knows what the logic is?? No room 111 on the second floor either! Bugger it, let's just go to the first floor - and what do you know? There it is! Open the door...... And there you have this tiny little room, with two beds squashed into it! Oh, well we are only there to sleep, who cares, it's clean, the bathroom is ok. We will survive! We go over to the window as we hear pigeons cooing. Open the double panes of frosted glass and we find ourselves peering directly into the windows of a room only feet away!
Later this room will be filled with countless loud Italians talking away for hours on end! When I peek out, it seems to be a room full of young adults, what do we have here? Italian "spring break?" let's hope it's not to last all night! The acoustics in this hotel leave quite a lot to be desired! Time to fire up,the iPads and make contact with the outside world. Technology died for me in Dubai when I used the last credit that I had on my sim with a Skype call to home that lasted probably no more than 5 minutes, but cost me $110! We had been informed us that there was free wifi in the hotel, and was given the password. Several attempts at logging in later, and no joy. So down to the lobby to see what we are doing wrong. Now, remember that we are seriously in need of sleep, but the helpfulness we received was something akin to being at Fawlty Towers.
"Basil and Sybil" looked at me with disdain, they attempted to help, but not really. Ok, back to the room, let's give up on the wifi and use the screen in the room. Still no luck. Ring reception. "Sybil" informs us, that no the wifi is not free when you use the room computer, it costs 5 euros per day. Small price to pay, so we agree. Still no joy, so we ring her again to ask for advice. She says she will send someone up. Knock at the door, and "Manuel #1" appears. He speaks no English and looks at us with a puzzled look on his face. "Internet?" he asks. Si! He shrugs his shoulders, and leaves the room. Next thing "Sybil" appears, a few keystrokes later and she professes that we now have Internet! Friggin hell, if this is the Internet here in Italy, they would be better off using the pigeons outside the window - they would have to be faster than this Internet! Frustration is setting in. Bugger it, let's just get on with it, and deal with it later.
In the lobby there is a sheet with a few tour options. One of them is a night bus trip around town showing the sites. We had seen several open air double decker buses on the way in, so this seemed like a good idea. I ask "Sybil" if it is too late to book it, and she informs us no. Everything we do with "Sybil" seems too hard, but we persevere, and just grin sweetly at her.
The tour is booked for a 7.15 pick up from the hotel, that's still a couple of hours away so we head to the bar. Here we find the lovely Franco. Barb attempts her Italian on him, and a couple of glasses of vino are produced. Now Franco assumes we speak Italian, and the words just start flowing. I just look at him with a blank look on my face, and nod every now and again. Don't get me wrong, he is/was lovely, but there are similarities with "Manuel" here too! Our second night here he actually serenaded us in Italian with the Barbra Streisand song "people". He is actually quite a good singer!
7.15 arrives. We walk out the door, and are greeted by two young girls. They tell us to follow them to the bus. A couple of blocks later and the bus is in sight. It's not an open air one, but oh we'll, it's getting kind of cold, so this will probably be better anyway! We now circle the city, picking up people from various other hotels. We are informed that now we must wait for the tour guide. Ok! Our tour guide arrives! Her name is Alesandra. (when we had seen the tours buses before, we noticed on the side of the buses the languages listed that the tours were available in. I assumed that we would be given headphones and we would just select the appropriate language!). No, no,no! Alesandra asks us all what language we speak, and gives us each individually our instructions in our own language. We hop aboard the bus, and await the start of the tour. We have English, Spanish, German and I think one other language on board.
To set the scene here I want you to visualize the cartoon mouse "Speedy Gonzales". Now imagine Speedy Gonzales on "speed" this is Alesandra! As we pass the tourist sites she gives us a running commentary in all the above mentioned languages! The arms are flapping in true Italian style, the words are flowing faster than one could possibly ever imagine, and if you are not paying attention, you just may miss your own language! Each new site is prefaced with the words "my friends", as if she is letting us in on the secrets of the city! Lord, knows how this woman can talk so fast. Would hate to be her kids! She tells us that her husband works for the opposition tour bus company. Can you imagine their dinner time conversations? Not only does Alesandra given us a multi language running commentary, but in between sentences she is also directing the bus driver on where to go. As we are in the front seat, we get to see it all. It is actually quite funny! We also get to see how the road rules work here in Rome! The bigger you are the more right of way you have! Possibly sitting in the front is not a good idea, as we also get to see all of the near misses, and wrong turns the driver makes. We later find out that it was his first night driving the bus! Yay! Lucky us!
We see the sites, The Colosseum, the Spanish steps, St. Peters Square....We get to stop at the Trevi Fountain, and it's massively busy.
I would hate to be here in the thick of tourist season! We chuck our coins in the fountain, and hop back on the bus. I am totally amazed at the busyness of this city, and the number of people out on the footpaths dining.
I have never seem so many eating establishments in my life! The quaint cobblestoned alleyways are all filled with people. There are pizza and pasta places everywhere!
The tour ends with dinner at a local trattoria. It is now after 10 pm , but apparently this is the normal time for dinner here in Italy! We are seated according to languages spoken. There are only English and Spanish speakers left. The others have declined the meal. It has actually worked out perfectly, as there are 8 people on each table. Our meal consists of bruschetta, pasta all' amatriciana, then a plate of roast pork and salad, then a dessert, also included is a carafe of both red and white wines!. They believe in eating big here! Even though we were all strangers, the breaking of bread brings us all together. We spent the next hour or so getting to know each other, and making new friends. All too soon it is time to go home, and with bellies fit to explode we leave the trattoria (by now it is almost midnight - don't forget we still have had no sleep!). We have had a wonderful time (mind you we both nodded off several times on the bus, only to be woken when the bus pulled to abrupt halts!) Home to the Hotel Diana, and bed! Another adventure awaits tomorrow!
We arrive into Rome airport. Nowhere near as flash as Dubai, but then who could compete with that? Attempt number one is made at getting our technology issues solved. Barb was able to get a sim for her phone, but I was told that Italy has no Apples, so I can't get my iPhone to work. Italy has no Apples! I find that a little hard to believe! Let's just get to the hotel, and then try to figure it out. We head to the train station. Just as we are about to descend to the station a gentleman in uniform informs us that it is Sunday madam, "trains they runna every hour, and you have just missed it, you will have to wait another hour. If you like, the bus will take you there and it will only cost you 1 euro more. Ita leaves ina five minutes. You a wait out there, ita come soon". Ok sounds all right, too tired to really care. We wait the 5 minutes, but still no bus in sight. More of us are assembling waiting for this bus. He keeps coming back, telling us "5 minutes, ita be here". What is actually happening is that he is waiting until he has the predetermined number of people (6) and then he opens up the mini bus door and drives it himself! Crafty bugger, fell right into that one! Oh well, just go with the flow!
We're on the road, traveling down the freeway, who cares, we are heading to the hotel. Now he pulls into a gas station, the mini bus apparently needs petrol! As we sit in the petrol station, I sit in the back, and feel like I am back at home in the voyager with the kids, and Rodger is out at the bowser. I want to open up the window and ask him to get me a drink, or a chocolate paddle pop! Back on the road, as we head into Rome, he points out the landmarks and gives us a little bit of history with the tour. Ok, so its worth the extra euro!
Finally he drops us off at Termini, the central train station in Rome. We ask him for directions to our hotel, and we head off on foot, bags in tow, in search of our Hotel. Not far really, but when you are tired, it all feels like a long way. As I have "street viewed" the hotel I know what the facade looks like. Excitement builds, "there it is!". Yay! We have made it! Let's check in! Looks nice.
The Streetscape outside the hotel.
Let's get up to the room. Our room number is 111, so we ask "is it on the first floor?" the response we get is "no" and what she says sounds like "7" we scratch our head, but figure, what the? And press the lift button for number 7. The door opens, and we are on the roof!
What, are we camping out? Ok, perhaps she said, 2nd. Head to the second floor. Doesn't seem logical, but we are in Italy, who knows what the logic is?? No room 111 on the second floor either! Bugger it, let's just go to the first floor - and what do you know? There it is! Open the door...... And there you have this tiny little room, with two beds squashed into it! Oh, well we are only there to sleep, who cares, it's clean, the bathroom is ok. We will survive! We go over to the window as we hear pigeons cooing. Open the double panes of frosted glass and we find ourselves peering directly into the windows of a room only feet away!
Later this room will be filled with countless loud Italians talking away for hours on end! When I peek out, it seems to be a room full of young adults, what do we have here? Italian "spring break?" let's hope it's not to last all night! The acoustics in this hotel leave quite a lot to be desired! Time to fire up,the iPads and make contact with the outside world. Technology died for me in Dubai when I used the last credit that I had on my sim with a Skype call to home that lasted probably no more than 5 minutes, but cost me $110! We had been informed us that there was free wifi in the hotel, and was given the password. Several attempts at logging in later, and no joy. So down to the lobby to see what we are doing wrong. Now, remember that we are seriously in need of sleep, but the helpfulness we received was something akin to being at Fawlty Towers.
"Basil and Sybil" looked at me with disdain, they attempted to help, but not really. Ok, back to the room, let's give up on the wifi and use the screen in the room. Still no luck. Ring reception. "Sybil" informs us, that no the wifi is not free when you use the room computer, it costs 5 euros per day. Small price to pay, so we agree. Still no joy, so we ring her again to ask for advice. She says she will send someone up. Knock at the door, and "Manuel #1" appears. He speaks no English and looks at us with a puzzled look on his face. "Internet?" he asks. Si! He shrugs his shoulders, and leaves the room. Next thing "Sybil" appears, a few keystrokes later and she professes that we now have Internet! Friggin hell, if this is the Internet here in Italy, they would be better off using the pigeons outside the window - they would have to be faster than this Internet! Frustration is setting in. Bugger it, let's just get on with it, and deal with it later.
In the lobby there is a sheet with a few tour options. One of them is a night bus trip around town showing the sites. We had seen several open air double decker buses on the way in, so this seemed like a good idea. I ask "Sybil" if it is too late to book it, and she informs us no. Everything we do with "Sybil" seems too hard, but we persevere, and just grin sweetly at her.
The tour is booked for a 7.15 pick up from the hotel, that's still a couple of hours away so we head to the bar. Here we find the lovely Franco. Barb attempts her Italian on him, and a couple of glasses of vino are produced. Now Franco assumes we speak Italian, and the words just start flowing. I just look at him with a blank look on my face, and nod every now and again. Don't get me wrong, he is/was lovely, but there are similarities with "Manuel" here too! Our second night here he actually serenaded us in Italian with the Barbra Streisand song "people". He is actually quite a good singer!
7.15 arrives. We walk out the door, and are greeted by two young girls. They tell us to follow them to the bus. A couple of blocks later and the bus is in sight. It's not an open air one, but oh we'll, it's getting kind of cold, so this will probably be better anyway! We now circle the city, picking up people from various other hotels. We are informed that now we must wait for the tour guide. Ok! Our tour guide arrives! Her name is Alesandra. (when we had seen the tours buses before, we noticed on the side of the buses the languages listed that the tours were available in. I assumed that we would be given headphones and we would just select the appropriate language!). No, no,no! Alesandra asks us all what language we speak, and gives us each individually our instructions in our own language. We hop aboard the bus, and await the start of the tour. We have English, Spanish, German and I think one other language on board.
To set the scene here I want you to visualize the cartoon mouse "Speedy Gonzales". Now imagine Speedy Gonzales on "speed" this is Alesandra! As we pass the tourist sites she gives us a running commentary in all the above mentioned languages! The arms are flapping in true Italian style, the words are flowing faster than one could possibly ever imagine, and if you are not paying attention, you just may miss your own language! Each new site is prefaced with the words "my friends", as if she is letting us in on the secrets of the city! Lord, knows how this woman can talk so fast. Would hate to be her kids! She tells us that her husband works for the opposition tour bus company. Can you imagine their dinner time conversations? Not only does Alesandra given us a multi language running commentary, but in between sentences she is also directing the bus driver on where to go. As we are in the front seat, we get to see it all. It is actually quite funny! We also get to see how the road rules work here in Rome! The bigger you are the more right of way you have! Possibly sitting in the front is not a good idea, as we also get to see all of the near misses, and wrong turns the driver makes. We later find out that it was his first night driving the bus! Yay! Lucky us!
We see the sites, The Colosseum, the Spanish steps, St. Peters Square....We get to stop at the Trevi Fountain, and it's massively busy.
I would hate to be here in the thick of tourist season! We chuck our coins in the fountain, and hop back on the bus. I am totally amazed at the busyness of this city, and the number of people out on the footpaths dining.
I have never seem so many eating establishments in my life! The quaint cobblestoned alleyways are all filled with people. There are pizza and pasta places everywhere!
The tour ends with dinner at a local trattoria. It is now after 10 pm , but apparently this is the normal time for dinner here in Italy! We are seated according to languages spoken. There are only English and Spanish speakers left. The others have declined the meal. It has actually worked out perfectly, as there are 8 people on each table. Our meal consists of bruschetta, pasta all' amatriciana, then a plate of roast pork and salad, then a dessert, also included is a carafe of both red and white wines!. They believe in eating big here! Even though we were all strangers, the breaking of bread brings us all together. We spent the next hour or so getting to know each other, and making new friends. All too soon it is time to go home, and with bellies fit to explode we leave the trattoria (by now it is almost midnight - don't forget we still have had no sleep!). We have had a wonderful time (mind you we both nodded off several times on the bus, only to be woken when the bus pulled to abrupt halts!) Home to the Hotel Diana, and bed! Another adventure awaits tomorrow!
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